This invention relates to a roller type shade and particularly to one adapted for use in a motor vehicle for covering an interior rear compartment area of the vehicle.
In many styles of modern motor vehicles, a rear compartment area is provided for the storage of cargo or personal items. For enhanced security, motor vehicle manufacturers often provide a retractable shade panel which can be extended to cover the compartment area. Typically, such security shades are comprised of a roller tube mounted to a support structure in the vehicle with a flexible fabric panel wrapped onto the roller tube. The security shade panel can be extended to cover the compartment area or retracted onto the roller tube when it is not needed. Security shades typically also have means for conveniently enabling them to be removed or reinstalled in the vehicle. The edge of the fabric shade panel opposite the roller tube normally has a pull tube or stiffener. The pull tube may also have a handle to enable the shade panel to be conveniently withdrawn from the roller tube. A mechanism is employed to hold the pull tube in the extended position to maintain the cover over the compartment area. Clips or other fasteners are used at the opposite lateral edges of the pull tube to maintain it in the extended position. Vehicle security shades may be mounted such that the roller tube is positioned at the forward edge of the compartment area with the shade panel being drawn rearward to the extended position or mounted near the rear edge of the compartment area with the shade panel being drawn forward to the extended position adjacent to or attached to the rear seat back.
In conventional motor vehicle security shades, the user has no choice but to either have the shade panel fully retracted onto the roller tube or fully extended so that the pull tube/ end board is in the rearward parked position. This limitation can be an inconvenience especially where the compartment is deep when measured from the rear door of the vehicle. For such vehicles, the user must reach a long distance to grasp the pull tube to pull it to its extended position. A long reach is also required upon retracting the shade panel, since it is preferred to grasp the pull tube/end board until the shade panel is fully withdrawn so that the spring tension of the roller tube does not cause damage during an unrestrained windup of the shade. In addition, with current shade designs, if the user has items in the rearmost portion of the compartment area which would interfere with the shade panel, they do not have the option of partially extending the shade.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a security shade assembly for a motor vehicle which incorporates a guide track for guiding the pull tube and includes more than one detent or park position for the roller tube. With the present invention, the user may choose to partially withdraw the shade panel to cover a portion of the rear compartment area. In this intermediate position, the operator can choose to more fully extend the shade panel without reaching to the forward mounting location of the shade roller tube assembly. The intermediate detent position also allows tall items to be placed in the rearmost portion of the compartment while the forward area of the compartment is covered by the partially extended shade panel.
This invention further entails various approaches toward providing multiple park positions for a security shade, including tracks having divergent track sections or attaching hooks for restraining the pull tube/ end board. An additional embodiment describes an actuated latching mechanism capable of providing a large number of park positions along the extended path of a pull tube.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.